Production of decorative tiles

ABSTRACT

The decorative tile formed from thin stainless steel and having a plurality of depressions on one face thereof is formed by a method comprising the steps of partially forming the depressions while the tile still forms part of a larger sheet of material, severing the partially formed tile from the sheet of material by means of a punch cooperating with a cutting die, and then completing the formation of the depressions while the tile is still in the cutting die, the periphery of the tile thereby being slightly withdrawn from the walls of the die so that subsequent removal of the tile from the die is facilitated.

o i United States Patent [151 3 64,49

Langmead [45] or, 114 1197 [5 1 PRODUCTION OF DECORATIVE TILES rencesCited UNITED STATES PATENTS [72] lnventor: Peter Norman FrederickLangmead, Ashfol-d Common, England 2,351,475 6/1944 Berger ..72/552,377,664 6/1945 Berger... ....72/55 [73] Assignee: Zealand EngineeringCompany Limited, 2,133,445 10/1938 Guerin... ....72/55 Ashford Common,England 2,308,998 1/1943 Misfeldt..... ..72/55 [22] Filed: 1969 PrimaryExaminerRichard J. Herbst 21 APPLNQ; 34 3 5Attorney-Mawhinney8z.Mawhinney [57] ABSTRACT [30] Foreign Apphcamn PnomyData The decorative tile formed from thin stainless steel and havingMar. 28, 1969 Great Britain ..16,517/69 a plurality of pr ion n ne facethereof is fomied by a method comprising the steps of partially formingthe depres- 52 us. (:1 ..72/55 72/335 72/341 Sims while the file fmlsPart material 11,3 16 severing the partially formed tile from the sheetof material by [51] In Cl B21 d 22 [10 means of a punch cooperating witha cutting die, and then Fieid l 6 I l 16 completing the formation of thedepressions while the tile is still in the cutting die, the periphery ofthe tile thereby being slightly withdrawn from the walls of the die sothat subsequent removal of the tile from the die is facilitated.

3 Claims, 5 Drawing PRODUCTION OF DECORATIVE TILES The invention relatesto methods and apparatus for producing decorative tiles from sheetmaterial and in particular relates to the production of tiles in which aplurality of depressions are formed on one face of the tile. Tiles ofthis kind may be formed from sheet material and may conveniently be cutfrom a larger sheet of material by employing a punch which cooperateswith a cutting die. However in such a method it is found that after thetile has been severed its periphery firmly engages the walls of thecutting die. Some form of ejector is therefore required to remove thetile from the die. Hitherto such tiles have been formed from sheet metalof at least eighteen thousandths of an inch in thickness and in thiscase the force required to eject the tile from the die may not harm thetile. In the case where the tile is formed from thin material, forexample thin sheet metal of less than ten thousandths of an inch inthickness, it is found that ejection of the tile from the die maydamage, or at least deform, the edges of the tile and this is obviouslyundesirable.

According to the invention a method of forming a tile having a pluralityof depressions on one face thereof comprises the steps of partiallyforming said plurality of depressions while the tile still forms part ofa larger sheet of material, severing the partially formed tile from thesheet of material by means of a punch cooperating with a cutting die,and then completing the formation of said depression while the tile isstill in the cutting die, the periphery of the tile thereby beingslightly withdrawn from the walls of the die so that subsequent removalof the tile from the die is facilitated.

Said partial forming of the depressions in the tile may be effected bycooperation between the punch and a surface within the cutting dieduring movement of the punch to the position where it cooperates withthe cutting die to sever the partially formed tile.

Similarly said completion of the forming of the depressions in the tilemay be effected by cooperation between the punch and a surface withinthe die during movement of the punch after it has passed the positionwhere it cooperates with the cutting die to sever the partially formedtile.

The invention also includes within its scope apparatus for carrying outthe method referred to above, the apparatus comprising means forpartially forming said plurality of depressions on one face of the tile,a punch and cutting die adapted to cooperate to sever the partiallyformed tile from the sheet of material, and means for completing theformation of said depressions whilst the tile is in the cutting die.

Said means for completing the formation of said depressions may comprisea surface within the die with which the punch cooperates during movementof the punch after it has passed the position where it cooperates withthe cutting die to sever the partially formed tile.

Said surface may also comprise said means for partially forming saiddepressions, the punch cooperating with the surface during movementthereof to the position where it severs the partially formed tile. Thepunch may be shaped in accordance with the required depressions in thetile and said surface may comprise a resiliently flexible pad ofmaterial against which the tile is urged by the punch.

The following is a more detailed description of one embodiment of theinvention, reference being made to the accompanying diagrammaticdrawings, in which:

FIG. I is a front elevation of a tile;

FIG. 2 is a vertical section along the line 2-2 of FIG. ll showing thetile attached to a vertical wall surface;

FIG. 3 is a vertical section through part of a punch and die showing thebeginning of the partial forming of a tile;

FIG. 4 is a similar view to FIG. 3 showing the severing of the tileafter it has been partially formed, and v FIG. 5 is a similar viewshowing the completion of the forming of the tile.

The tile is generally rectangular in shape and is formed from sheetstainless steel having a thickness of up to ten thousandths of an inch,for example about five thousandths of an inch. The tile I shown in FIGS.l and 2 is by way of example only and it will be appreciated that: manydifferent designs and configurations of tile may be used. The tile isformed, in the manner to be described below, so that a plurality ofdepressions 2 are formed in the rear surface of the tile.

Hitherto such tiles, to provide the necessary rigidity, have generallybeen formed from sheet metal of at least eighteen thousanths of an inchin thickness, the tiles being mounted on a surface by means of a numberof double-sided self-adhesive pads or by means of an impact adhesive.

Where the tile is about five thousandths of an inch in thickness thenecessary rigidity may be imparted to the tile by the depressions formedin it and in this case the tile may be stuck to a'surface, such as isindicated at 3 in FIG. 2, by an impact adhesive. Also, however, asettable adhesive material may be used which fills at least the majorityof the depressions 2 in the rear surface of the tile and the adhesive,when set, will then serve to support the relatively thin sheet metal ofthe tile. Preferably all the depressions are filled with adhesive sothat the tile is supported over its whole area. The adhesive used may beany suitable gap filling adhesive which will adhere to the metal of thetile. For example it may be a rubber, neoprene, or epoxy resin basedadhesive or rubberized mastic.

In the case where sufficient rigidity is imparted to the tile by thedepressions formed in it an adhesive may merely be applied to thoseparts of the tile which contact the surface on which it is to bemounted, without necessarily filling the depressions. An impact adhesiveis suitable for this purpose, for example an impact adhesive havingtoluene as a solvent.

Referring now to FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 the apparatus for forming a tilecomprises a cutting die 10 having a rectangular aperture one wall ofwhich is indicated at ill and] the upper cutting edge of which isindicated at 112.

A vertically reciprocable punch 13 which is also rectangular in crosssection cooperates with the die. The lower end of the punch is shaped asindicated at 14 in accordance with the required design of thedepressions in the tile and around its periphery the punch is chamferedat 15 to form a peripheral depression on the tile and to provide on thepunch a cutting edge 16. A pad 17 of resiliently flexible material, forexample of hard rubber, is disposed within the cutting die aperture.

In operation a sheet of stainless steel 118 is laid over the dieaperture and a pressure pad 19 which encircles the punch 13 is broughtdown to clamp the sheet to the upper surface of the die. The punch 13 isthen brought downwards and traps the sheet steel 18 between its lowerend and the flexible pad 17 so that the sheet metal begins to be formed,according to the shape of the punch, as shown in FIG. 3.

As the punch continues to move downwards the forming of the tilecontinues until the punch reaches the position shown in FIG. 4 where itscutting edge 16 cooperates with the cutting edge 12 of the die 10 tosever the tile 20 from the metal sheet 18. It will be seen from FIG. 4that at the moment the tile is severed from the sheet around itsperiphery the tile is still only partially formed the metal of the tilestill not having been forced fully into the depressions in the lower endof the punch 13.

Continuing downward movement of the punch 13 completes the formation ofthe depressions in the tile as shown in FIG. 5. Also as seen in thatFigure the completion of the forming of the tile causes the peripheraledge 21 of the tile to be drawn inwardly away from the walls 11 of thedie 10 so as to provide a gap 22. The punch 13 is then withdrawnupwardly away from the formed tile. The resilient pad 17 automaticallyfrees the formed tile springing it upward due to the resilience of thepad. The formed tile may then readily be removed either by hand or by anautomatic device such as a suction arm arranged to move across the dieand pick up the formed tile.

It will be appreciated that the above apparatus may be automaticallyoperating and may form part of an automatic assembly in which sheets ofstainless steel are fed continuously across a number of die assembliesfor the continuous production of tiles.

In the example given the depth of the depressions formed in the tile maybe, for example, up to thirty thousandths of an inch in depth and it isfound that the withdrawal of the periphery of the tile to form the gap22 is likely to be up to five thousandths of an inch depending on thenature and depth of the depressions formed in the surface of the tile.

The use of a flexible pad l7within the dies is preferable since it isfound that the tiles may then be formed without any deterioration of thesurface finish of the metal. However it will be appreciated that theflexible pad 17 could be replaced by a shaping die shaped to cooperatewith the depressions in the punch 14.

In one particular arrangement (not shown) the shaping die comprises alayer of flexible material disposed over a fixed base in which arearranged a number of vertical adjusting screws so that by suitablyadjusting the screws the upper surface contour of the flexible layer ofmaterial may be varied according to the shape of the tile required. Ifrequired this variable die can be used, once having been set, for thecasting of a solid die from a suitable rigid casting material.

It will be appreciated that in the above arrangement the withdrawal ofthe peripheral edge of the tile from the walls of the die means thatthere is no difficulty in removing the formed tile from the die and thatremoval also does not cause any damage or deformation to the edge of thetile.

The use of a thin sheet metal for the tiles means that the requireddefinition of the pattern or design on the face of the tile can beobtained using the apparatus described above whereas the thickermaterials previously used for tiles can only be embossed with a designof sufficient definition by employing matching male and female dieelements. This has the disadvantage, inter alia, that the embosseddesign requires polishing to obtain the desired surface finish.

To obtain the shaped punch 13 for forming tiles a master tile may firstbe formed from sheet metal by hand or other means. Two or more casts arethen taken from the master tile. One or more shaped punches are thenformed from one of these casts for use in forming further tiles and theother cast or casts are kept as a safeguard, to ensure that at any time,after the punch wears out, it is possible to manufacture fresh punchesand to produce tiles which match exactly with the original tile.

The invention is particularly applicable to wall tiles which areconventionally square or rectangular and are produced in standard sizes.For example one common form of square tile has a side length of 4 /4inches. The tiles are preferably formed individually but a plurality oftiles arranged side by side may be formed from a single large sheet, thesheet being formed and mounted as a whole.

lclaim:

. 1. Apparatus for forming from sheet material a tile having a pluralityof depressions on one face thereof. and comprising:

a. a punch,

b. a first surface on the punch shaped in accordance with the requireddepressions in the tile,

0. a first peripheral shearing edge on the punch, surrounding the firstsurface and shaped in accordance with the required peripheral shape ofthe tile,

d. a cutting die with which the punch cooperates,

e. a second peripheral shearing edge on the cutting die shaped inaccordance with the required peripheral shape of the tile,

f. the first and second shearing edges being disposed to cooperate withone another to sever the tile from the sheet material,

g. a second surface on the die and within the second peripheral shearingedge on the die,

h. the second surface cooperating with the first surface, on

the punch; to form the plurality of depressions in the tile,

j. the second surface being disposed to cooperate partially with thefirst surface, so as partially to form the depressions in the tile,before the punch reaches a position where the first and second shearingedges cooperate to sever the tile from the sheet material, and tocooperate fully with the first surface, to complete the formation of thedepressions in the tile, after the punch has passed said position andhas severed the tile from the sheet material.

2. Apparatus for forming a tile according to claim 8, and furthercomprising:

k. a pressure element movable with the punch and surrounding the firstperipheral shearing edge on the punch,

l. a support surface surrounding the second peripheral shearing edge onthe die and with which support surface the pressure element cooperates,

m. the punch being capable of movement relative to the pressure element,

11. a first part of the movement of the punch and pressure elementtogether bringing the pressure element to a position where it pressesthe strip material against the support surface, and a second part of themovement of the punch, relative to the pressure element, bringing thepunch into cooperation with the cutting die.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the said second surfacecomprises a resiliently flexible pad of material against which the tileis urged by the punch.

1. Apparatus for forming from sheet material a tile having a pluralityof depressions on one face thereof, and comprising: a. a punch, b. afirst surface on the punch shaped in accordance with the requireddepressions in the tile, c. a first peripheral shearing edge on thepunch, surrounding the first surface and shaped in accordance with therequired peripheral shape of the tile, d. a cutting die with which thepunch cooperates, e. a second peripheral shearing edge on the cuttingdie shaped in accordance with the required peripheral shape of the tile,f. the first and second shearing edges being disposed to cooperate withone another to sever the tile from the sheet material, g. a secondsurface on the die and within the second peripheral shearing edge on thedie, h. the second surface cooperating with the first surface, on thepunch, to form the plurality of depressions in the tile, j. the secondsurface being disposed to cooperate partially with the first surface, soas partially to form the depressions in the tile, before the punchreaches a position where the first and second shearing edges cooperateto sever the tile from the sheet material, and to cooperate fully withthe first surface, to complete the formation of the depressions in thetile, after the punch has passed said position and has severed the tilefrom the sheet material.
 2. Apparatus for forming a tile according toclaim 8, and further comprising: k. a pressure element movable with thepunch and surrounding the first peripheral shearing edge on the punch,l. a support surface surrounding the second peripheral shearing edge onthe die and with which support surface the pressure element cooperates,m. the punch being capable of movement relative to the pressure element,n. a first part of the movement of the punch and pressure elementtogether bringing the pressure element to a position where it pressesthe strip material against the support surface, and a second part of themovement of the punch, relative to the pressure element, bringing thepunch into cooperation with the cutting die.
 3. Apparatus according toclaim 1 wherein the said second surface comprises a resiliently flexiblepad of material against which the tile is urged by the punch.